John Thompson, fired after just 11 months from his Clayton County post, ranked as the third-best-paid school superintendent in Georgia for 2009. Thompson pocketed about $367,000 in the fiscal year ending June 30. He lost his job in March, less than a year after he’d been hired to turn the school system around and lead it back to accreditation. Check out the rest of the state’s 10 highest-paid superintendents.

Georgia law may prohibit ex-House Speaker Glenn Richardson‘s recent transfer of leftover campaign cash to a political fund under his control. On Dec. 31, a day before Richardson’s resignation took effect, he cleaned out his re-election campaign’s bank account with the transfer of $219,915 to the MMV Alliance Fund. One potential problem: MMV does not appear to be among the organizations that may legally accept unused campaign contributions.

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Orange Bowl-loser Paul Johnson was only the second-highest-paid coach at Georgia Tech last year, state records show. Tech paid MaChelle Joseph, the women’s basketball coach, $8,100 more than Johnson in fiscal year 2009. Johnson collects much more overall, but state auditors show Joseph’s base salary ranked second, behind UGA’s Mark Richt, among all coaches at state universities. Wonder who else made the Top 10?

Former House Speaker Glenn Richardson‘s political fund, enriched last week with nearly $220,000 from a separate campaign account, can legally spend the money almost any way it wishes. “He could spend it on anything he wants to,” said Rick Thompson, former executive secretary of the State Ethics Commission. “If he wanted to pay his rent or buy an automobile through the MMV PAC fund, there’s no restrictions on what he can do … under the Ethics in Government Act.”